Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Go Team Green!

Introduction

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Go Team Green!!

Have you ever thought about where your homework papers go when you are finished with them? Do you just throw them away? What about old toys, games, and clothes when you outgrow them? Do they just go into the trash? Now...just think about the amount of "trash" you alone have and multiply that by millions and millions of people in the country. Many millions of tons of"trash" are buried in a landfill where it stays for many decades. Most of it will never rot away or decay. Some of it contains toxic ingredients that may leak out into the ground and then into our water systems. So much can be done to reduce the amount of trash and wasted resources that are harming our environment. That is where YOU come in...we all need to learn how to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. So, here we go!!

Task

Tasks to Complete

Form a team of five students. Each student will choose one task. There is one task that is going to be a team effort. There are websites to visit to find all types of green information! There are games to play and videos to watch. After these tasks have been completed, there are two group projects to do that will really help you score points for the team! There are even a couple of projects you could do at home with your parents' help if you want to!

Task 1: Why should people recycle water bottles? How many are used every day in the USA? What happens to

water bottles that are not recycled?

Task 2: Find out what the largest component sent to US landfills. What can be recycled? What is waste?

Task 3: Paper or Plastic: What should people do with plastic bags? What are seven ways to save paper? How

many big trees does it take to make a ton of paper?

Task 4: Find out five easy ways to save water. How much water does the average family of four use daily? How

much of the earth's water can people use?

Task 5: Why is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in that order? What do some items become? Name two ways you could

reuse a milk jug.

Task 6: Team Effort: What are some ways your classroom can become more eco-friendly?

Team Activity 1: As a team, make a 16" x 20" collage about reducing, reusing, and recycling from what you have learned from this Webquest. Make it as creative and colorful as you like!

Team Activity 2: With all team members participating, write an essay stating what you have learned about reducing, reusing, and recycling, why it is important, and what you can do to join in the recycling movement, and how you can help others learn to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Process

Here are the websites you can explore that will lead you to be able to answer the questions in your task.

http://climatekids.nasa.gov/recycle-this/

http://www.meetthegreens.org/episode7/just-say-no.html

http://www.childrenoftheearth.org/recycling-for-kids.html

http://www.childrenoftheearth.org/eco_class_ideas.htm

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/recycle/helpenvr.htm

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/recycle/recyclingbeyond.htm (Click on Recycling Story)

Games to Play (Contains Lots of GREEN Information! Required)

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/actiongames/recycle-roundup/

http://www3.epa.gov/recyclecity/gameintro.htm

http://www3.epa.gov/watersense/quiz/game_kids.html

Video to watch (Required)

http://www2.epa.gov/students/videos-students-and-educators#Waste

Recycling Quiz (Required)

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/recycle/notgarbage.htm

Projects to do at home with adult help (optional)

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/recycle/compost2.htm

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/cool/wormbox.htm

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/recycle/rbirds.htm

Evaluation

EVALUATION

Team Project 1: Collage will be graded on participation of all team members. The students must work together as a team!

Team Project 2: The group essay will be graded on the basis of a rubric:


Rubric for grading essay	1	2	3	4
Essay introduction	Intro does not tell what the essay will be about. The interest to read it is very low.	Intro does not tell clearly what the essay will be about. Interest is very weak.	Tells what the essay will focus on. The intro is weak Interest will be only moderate.	Tells what the essay will focus on and has attention-grabbing introduction. Interest is high.
Essay is on focus	No effort to stay on focus-essay does not relate information to the topic. Reader learns very little.	Some effort to stay on topic. Essay drifts to other topics. Reader learns only small amount about topic.	Most of the essay stays on topic with only minor breaks from the subject. The reader can still learn much from the essay.	All of the essay is on topic. It is clear and easily understandable to the reader. The reader will learn a great deal from the essay.
Grammar and punctuation	7 or more errors in punctuation or grammar.	4-6 errors in punctuation or grammar.	1-3 errors in punctuation or grammar.	0 errors in punctuation or grammar.

Conclusion

Conclusion

Congratulations for scoring a win for the team! Now you understand the importance of

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

and how it is good for the envoronment. You know how important it is to recycle as much plastic, paper, metal, toys, and all sorts of things as you can! You also have learned a great deal about reusing old things, saving water, and trying to limit what goes to our landfills.

Please continue your efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle, starting with your classroom.

Go, TEAM GREEN!

Credits